uire who they were, and what they wanted. This
they explained in fear and trembling, and they then learnt that the Arab
government had that very evening taken possession of the residence. Orion
was accused of serious crimes, and his guests were to depart on the
following day.

Katharina, who was known to the interpreter, was allowed to go with
Heliodora to the senator's wife; she might also use the chariot to return
home in, and if she pleased, take the Byzantines with her, for the palace
would be in the hands of the soldiery for the next few days.

The two young women held council. Katharina pressed her friend to come at
once to her mother's house, for she felt certain that they were
plague-stricken, and how could they procure a bath in a house full of
soldiers? Heliodora could not and must not remain with Martina in this
condition, and the senator's wife could follow her next day. Her mother,
she added, would be delighted to welcome so dear a guest.

The widow was passive, and when Martina had gladly consented to accept
the invitation of her "delivering angel," the chariot carried them to
Susannah's house. The widow had long been in bed, firmly convinced that
her daughter was asleep and dreaming in her own pretty room.

Katharina would not have her disturbed, and the bath-room was so far from
Susannah's apartment that she slept on quietly while Katharina and her
guest purified themselves.

CHAPTER XI.

The inhabitants of the governor's residence passed a fearful night.
Martina asked herself what sin she had committed that she, of all people,
should be picked out to witness such a disaster.

And where were her schemes of marriage now? Any movement in such heat was
indeed scarcely endurable; but she would have moved from one part of the
house to another a dozen times, and allowed herself to be tossed hither
and thither like a ball, if it could have enabled her to save her dear
"great Sesostris" from such hideous peril. And at the bottom of all this
was, no doubt, this wild, senseless business of the nuns.

And these Arabs! They simply helped themselves to whatever they fancied,
and were, of course, in a position to strip the son of the great Mukaukas
of all he possessed and reduce him to beggary. A pretty business this!

Heliodora, to be sure, had enough for both, and she and her husband would
not forget them in their will; but there was more than this in the
balance now: it was a matter of life and death